BLACK CAT ROCKABILLY - The Netherlands, 2008
Great Big Beat, Jeff Potter
El Toro Records ETCD 8010
When you heard of Jeff Potter before and you've had the chance to listen to his previous CD "Rhythm Riot", then I don't have to tell you what a great musician this man is! The BlackCat has done the review on that great album, with a biography on the man, so we can skip this and go right down to business on this new album of Jeff Potter: "Great Big Beat". This album came out in 2007, so I am a little late. But... this very album makes it all up to all you readers. Jeff Potter is known for his skills on the piano, drums, organ and lead guitar. You might say, he has done this CD on his own, but no, he's got himself a real good set of the best musicians around him that backs him up.
Well, I have to talk about this record as well. I say record because my daugther, she is twelve, saw this CD and said: "Hey dad, this looks funny!", so I had to explain that very old CD's are black and made of vinyl and we called them "records". We put this record, well it looks like an original old record, in our cd-player and turned up the volume. My daugther instantly shouted: "This is good old music!". Well, who am I to speak against that?
Okay, we open with "She Got A Great Big Beat" and that's exactly what it is, a realy steady Boogie beat with great piano playing. Next is "Allright With Me", with very nice played upright bass in a midtempo rockabilly beat. When we're done rockin' and boppin' on "When The Moon Came Up" it is time to rest a little with the instrumental "Golden Roll", where the bluespiano and organ are accompanied by great guitar moments! A beautiful ballad "I Can't Believe" is one to remember. "She's So Explosive" is just a great song with a deep background bass voice that's so often in those very good Doo Wop songs, I like that! "Time On My Hands" and "Somebody Loves You" both have that great Boogie Woogie pianoplay in it, and that is something different in the next song "High Octane", which is my personal favourite, and that's because of the pomping Rockabilly beat, yeah slap that bass!! "Kinda Lovin' Man" is yet a great song with a super guitarsolo, and if the voice of Jeff fits a song, this is it. Over to some real Rock 'n' Roll with "Let's go To The Moon", try to sit still with this one! If only I could play the piano as in this song...
Well, I have to cool down, and Jeff must have known it, he has got a heavy ballad next on the program, it's called "Modern Busy World" you must listen to the lyrics and think about that, before the world gets too busy. Then "Get Some Rest", well... this keeps me on my feet dancin', what rest? Oké it's time for the last ballad of this album "Some Of The Time" which sounds like it's written in the early eighties, nicely done. Last track; "The Romp". It's an instrumental with a solo part for every instrument, a great drummer who knows what he is doing, triple slaps of the bass where you don't expect it, great guitar licks, piano and organ... and it rocks too! Well what else can I say? I hope you love this CD as much as I do. I rate it five out of five stars!
Tracklisting:
She's Got A Great Big Beat / All Right With Me / When The Moon Comes Up / Golden Roll / I Can't Believe / She's So Explosive / Time On My Hands / Somebody Loves You / High Octane / Kinda Lovin'Man / Let's Go To The Moon / Modern Busy World / Get Some Rest / Some Of The Time / The Romp
"Great Big Beat" is made by:
Jeff Potter - Vocals, Piano, Drums, Organ
Graham Tichy - Lead Guitar, Bass, Harmony Vocals
Betsy-Dawn Williams - Tremelo Guitar (# 4) Backing Vocals (# 5 & # 12)
Jim Haggerty - Bass (song # 2, # 9, # 11, # 13 & # 15)
Todd Wulfmeyer - Bass (Song # 7 & #12)
Matt Mirabile - Lead Guitar (song # 4 last 2 solos)
Jeff Potter also played Lead Guitar on songs (# 2, # 13 & # 15-first, second and fourth verses).
Reviewed by Rockin' Kees, 2008
BLUE SUEDE NEWS - Duvall, Washington ISSUE NUMBER 80, 2007
JEFF POTTER Great Big Beat
EI Toro ETCD 8010
Here's my favorite new CD for this issue! There have been several others I liked a lot, but having seen both Jeff and his wife Betsy-Dawn Williams at the Rockabilly Ball last year primed me for this. Potter's an all-around musician, playing piano, drums, organ and some lead guitar on his new CD, as well as writing and singing all 15 songs. Several of the songs strike me as relating to the courting process (I wrote some for Gaby in the same process), tunes like "All Right With Me," "I Can't Believe," "She's So Explosive" (with some great Doo-Wop style bass vocals), "Time On My Hands." "Somebody Loves You," "Kinda Lovin' Man" and really some of the others too. Both Jeff and Betsy-Dawn are lucky to have found each other, and we're the beneficiaries through all these great tunes! Graham Tichy, who backed them both here in Seattle (and is Jeff's bandmate in the Lustre Kings) is of course here too, as well as bass players Jim Haggerty and Todd Wolfmeyer. B.D. even gets in the act on tremolo guitar (on the instrumental "Golden Roll") as well as backing vocals. Most of the tunes are '50s Rock'n'Roll/Rockabilly style with grooves varied much within that concept. That Instro tune has organ, placing it kind of in the "Honky Tonk" area, later Instro "The Romp" has more of a '60s feel. There are also other themes involved - "High Octane,", "Let's Go To The Moon" (take off your suit and get real nude, but you might get cold and spoil the mood"), "Modern Busy World." "Get Some Rest" for example. "Some Of The Time" has a bit of Buddy Holly feel, but with Duane Eddy guitar. I could say a lot more, but take it from me, this is an excellent CD, lot's of fun to listen to, great grooves to dance to throughout! Eltororecords.com -Marc Bristol
NOW DIG THIS – England, Issue No. 292, July 2007
JEFF POTTER Great Big Beat
EI Toro ETCD 8010
She's Got A Great Big Beat / AII Right With Me / When The Moon Comes Up / Golden RolI / I Can't Believe / She's So Explosive / Time On My Hands / Somebody Loves You / High Octane / Kinda Lovin' Man / Let's Go To The Moon / Modem Busy World / Get Some Rest / Some Of The Time / The Romp (Playing time: 43:25)
If I was a piano player I wouldn't want to play like Art Tatum or Oscar Peterson and, much as I admire them, I wouldn't want to play like Dr. John or Allen Toussaint. No, if I was a piano player I would love to play like Jeff Potter and be able to take charge of any old upright, slip it into gear and let rip with some rabble rousing blues and boogie-woogie rock n roll. And although Jeff's normal stomping grounds are the inns and taverns of New England, in my mind's eye I can see him doing just that in the back room of any pub, here in the old country. Anyone looking for meaningful arpeggios or other such delicate ornamentation should look elsewhere. The opening track of Jeff's latest CD, 'She's Got A Great Big Beat', sets the scene. As a heavy foot-stomping butt-shaking boogie, it's a fair indication of what's in store. The numbers, which are all Jeff Potter originals, play to the crowd. 'All Right With Me', with its 'Hi Heel Sneakers' beat, and 'When The Moon Comes Up' (and the sun goes down and everyone goes rockin' and boppin' all night) keep the pot firmly on the boil. 'She's So Explosive', with its country rock influences, the strolling 'Somebody Loves You' and the good rockin' sound of 'Let's Go To The Moon' - the most instantly memorable of all the tracks - are yet more items to savour. The heavy rolling ballad 'I Can't Believe' and 'Modern Busy World', in the style of 'It's Only Make Believe', complete a very fine CD. The fans that enjoyed 'Rhythm Riot' (see NOT 240) won't be disappointed. Although the piano predominates, the guitar has its moments as in 'Golden Roll' - a heavy, heaving blues, one of two instrumental tracks. The other is the tremendous 'Romp' which closes the CD. Piano or no piano, the drummer is determined to make his mark. Admittedly it sounds like someone banging on the back door trying to get in, but with a show like this, who could blame them? 'Great Big Beat' indeed - exactly what it says on the label. Chris Woodford
JUMPING FROM 6 TO 6
15 bis rue des Teinturiers, 14000 Caen, France - August 2008
GREAT BIG BEAT
El Toro Records - ETCD 8010
She's Got A Great Big Beat - All Right With Me - When The Moon Comes Up - Golden Roll - I Can't Believe - She's So Explosive - Time On My Hands - Somebody Loves You - High Octane - Kinda Lovin'Man - Let's Go To The Moon - Modern Busy World - Get Some Rest - Some Of The Time - The Romp
Jeff Potter (who plays piano, guitar, drums, organ) with the help of a cast of fine musicians (including Betsy-Dawn Williams and guitarist extraordinaire Graham Tichy) offers here a very good self penned album full of piano led rock'n'roll ("High Octane", "She's Got A Great Big Beat"), doo wop ("She's So Explosive" with excellent bass vocal from Tichy),ballad ("I Can't Believe", "It's A Busy World") and a couple of instrumental thrown in for good measure "Golden Roll" (a tune with a strong Bill Dogget's Honky Tonk feel on which Potter plays organ) and the rockin' (with a 60's vibe) "the Romp". You can hear the influences of Jerry Lee Lewis (of course), Fats Domino, Buddy Holly (on "Some Of The Time") and more modern bands like The Blasters. Truly a great rock'n'roll album.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis
3RD COAST MUSIC - Austin, Texas July Issue, 2007
JEFF POTTER • GREAT BIG BEAT
Even though, or perhaps because, rockabilly is, as Robert Palmer observed, “precisely poised on the knife’s edge where country music, old-time blues, bluegrass, gospel, R&B, Western Swing, pop crooning and other elements of 50s vernacular music” intersect, it’s always been the music most resistant to hyphenation. They can play ‘abilly’ word games, but, at the end of the day, the players are either rockabillies or they’re not rockabillies, there are no grey areas, no fucking fusions. However, it has to be admitted that an endemic weakness of contemporary rockabilly is that, as, for instance, with lesbian or protest music, musical quality runs a distant second to sub-cultural identity. If it were the other way round, Jeff Potter, of Northampton, MA, would be a star.When Potter sent me his first album, Rhythm Riot (Raucous [UK], 2004), I asked (#86/175) “how many people can remind you of Jerry Lee Lewis, Duane Eddy and Sandy Nelson at the same time?” Once again, Potter wrote all the material, sings the songs and plays piano, organ and drums, and once again does all these things better than most people who only do one of them. The big difference on this album is that he only plays lead guitar on three of the 15 tracks, for the very good reason that he’s backed by rising star Graham Tichy, son of Lost Planet Airman John Tichy, who’s even better at it, and also plays bass on most tracks, with Jim Haggerty or Todd Wulfmeyer on the rest. Potter isn’t just authentic, rockabilly to the bone, he’s amazingly versatile within the genre, one standout is the Teen Idol love ballad I Can’t Believe, another is the closing Link Wray-ish instro The Romp. Less Duane Eddy this time, but more Gene Vincent. Works for me.SLY'S REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS - The Subculture Collective
Jeff Potter - Great Big Beat
The title of this couldn’t be any better. Not only is it the title of a song therein, it is a good description of the album as a whole. A man of many talents, Mr. Potter sings it like it should be sung. Hic-ups, howls, and more can be heard while he plays the piano like a man possessed. If I knew who the drummer & guitar player were, I’d tip my hat to them as well. All in all, if you don’t have it, you are definitely missing something good. This CD gives you a nice taste of days of ol’. It also has one of my favorite instrumental tracks ever, called “Golden Roll”. Keep tuned to this guy. I haven’t heard one from him I didn’t like yet.
RETRO MUSIC REVIEW
reviewed by Michael Macomber - www.retromusicreview.com
Jeff Potter - Great Big Beat (El Toro: ETCD 8010)
When Fats Domino sang “The big beat keeps you rockin’ in your seat,” he might as well have been talking about this CD. Jeff Potter’s Great Big Beat won’t just get you rockin’ in your seat — it’ll get you up on your feet and twistin’ in the street. Equal parts Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent, Potter is a tremblin’ boogie woogie dynamo. Bangin’ away at the piano, he hiccups out his raw, gut level rock and roll ditties.
There are no complex social messages or hidden meanings here. Potter is up front and blunt, singing about women, dancing, and the coolness of being cool. His arrangements are appropriately basic, just enough guitar, bass, drums, and keys to make your hips move. “All Right With Me” is a vibrating mid tempo killer, with a simple, slammin’ beat that will wind around your brain and never leave. “Golden Roll” is a strollin’, struttin’ instrumental, leaning hard on those 12 bars. “She’s So Explosive” is a tobacco-chewin’ honky tonk number, featuring a fab guitar solo by Graham Tichy.
Taking time out from his heavy duty rockin’ and rollin’, Potter brings it down a few notches for the tender romantic ballad, “Modern Busy World.” Potter delivers each line with warmth and subtlety, proving he is no one-trick pony. Another ballad, “Some Of The Time,” sounds almost contemporary, like some of Iggy Pop’s more sensitive material. Graham Tichy’s guitar work is, again, fantastic.
A few minutes later, Potter is back to rockin’. He wraps up Great Big Beat with an intensely catchy instrumental, “The Romp,” shaking the house all the way down to its very foundations.
RAZORCAKE MAGAZINE - Los Angeles, CA
JEFF POTTER & THE RHYTHM AGENTS: Rhythm Riot: CD (Raucous Records)
Jeff Potter takes his cue from Jerry Lee Lewis, pounding the ivories and singing in a voice that could either testify for the Lord or send hundreds of teenage souls to the deepest pits of hell. This is the devil’s rock at its most primitive and if Potter had been around fifty years ago he would probably be considered a threat to the social order on par with The Killer. The album’s title track, interestingly enough, is this work’s biggest departure. Gone are the hammered piano keys, replaced by—get this—a drum solo. –Eric Rife
BLACK CAT ROCKABILLY - The Netherlands, June 2005
JEFF POTTER & THE RHYTHM AGENTS - RHYTHM RIOT
The album "Rhythm Riot" is really incredible, it has the ingredients of many styles of American roots music, ranging from boogie woogie to rock 'n' roll to rockabilly to rhythm & blues. A magician on the piano, a wizzard on the drums and a good songwriter as well, all songs are self-penned originals. The album hits off with a steady boogie woogie rhythm on a song titled "Don't Stop Now", switching to rockabilly on "The Party" with great piano and guitar breaks (think Freddy 'Fingers' Lee).
The best is yet to come, the title song "Rhythm Riot" is something else. Pounding drums (Sandy Nelson style), complete with solo, and a twangy guitar (Duane Eddy style), this is a Jeff Potter original that will raise the hairs in your neck. As easy as pie, Jeff switches over to the blues on the touchy "How Come", and back to rock 'n' roll on "I Don't Wanna Go". The album is packed with American roots music with a lot of variety, energy and skill. You just gotta love it. At the end of the CD there's also a hidden bluesy track which sounds a bit like a John Lee Hooker jam session.3RD COAST MUSIC - Austin, Texas Issue Number 86, 2004
JEFF POTTER & THE RHYTHM AGENTS - RHYTHM RIOT
Fans of true American rock & roll, the real deal that got wiped out by that lightweight British Invasion crapola, may get their biggest kick out of the songs, the singing, the fiery guitar picking, the bluesy harmonica riffs, the stellar boogie-woogie piano pumping or the ferocious drumming, but it doesn't really matter much because they'll be listening to a living justification for overdubs. To call Jeff Potter a versatile multi-instrumentalist is pitifully inadequate. Based in Northampton, MA, Potter, whose main gig is playing piano with New York rockabillys The Lustre Kings, can do all those things better than most anybody who only does one of them, I mean, how many people can remind you of Jerry Lee Lewis, Duane Eddy and Sandy Nelson at the same time? A couple of tracks have appeared on fairly obscure rockabilly compilations, the instrumental Rhythm Riot on Fury-Mental (Fury, UK, 1997), Pushrod on Is It Cool (Nervous, UK, 1995) while Time For Love/Don't Stop Now were a 1994 Dynamite 45, Potter adding ten more tracks to make up his crackling debut album. This is amazing stuff, which you can admire as a whole or let yourself be dazzled by individual facets. Right now, I'm listening mesmerized to Potters' incredible drum line on Rhythm Riot. - John ConquestATOMIC MAGAZINE, New York City, 2003
JEFF POTTER & THE RHYTHM AGENTS - RHYTHM RIOT, RAUCOUS RECORDS, UK
A good beat goes a long way. If Bill Haley used a metronome, you can be certain Jeff Potter & The Rhythm Agents reset it for their CD release Rhythm Riot (Raucous Records). This is excellent rock-and-roll, and better still, it's original material. From the start, the music is energized. Tracks like "Don't Stop Now" and "The Party" arefast-paced, bouncing good fun. But the real prize is title track, which has a Duane Eddy feel
coupled with amazing drum work. Jeff Potter is a capable percussionist, but he's no one trick pony: His skills on classic vocals, piano, guitars, and harmonica get plenty of action on this explosive album. Potter has recorded with NRBQ's Al Anderson, and shows off his boogie piano skills on tracks like "Teachin' My Baby To Drive" and "Til The Cows Come Home" with a fierce Jerry Lee Lewis-like determination.
Rhythm & Blues is another facet of this gemstone. "How Come" and "Time for Love" arehardcore blues showcases, both underlining the versatility and power of Jeff Potter as a
performer.
Of course, Potter doesn't do all the work alone. The Rhythm Agents include Rick King on guitar, Red Rogers on the bass and lap steel, and Rick Brown on the maracas. There's a wonderful orchestration in the material being presented here. The beats are the bridge through a stylistic landscape, and the trip lasts for the entire album. - Frankie HaganBLUE SUEDE NEWS Duvall, Washington ISSUE NUMBER 61, 2003
JEFF POTTER & THE RHYTHM AGENTS - RHYTHM RIOT, RAUCOUS CD RAUCD 119
Jeff Potter brings on the big beat here, just listen to the title song, a monster of an instro-rocker with powerful drumbeat, hot lead and busy rhythm guitar. 14 songs, all originals and featuring the man himself on vocals, piano, guitars, drums and harmonica hallelujah! His Rhythm Agents (guitar, bass, maracas) provide a solid frame for Jeff's' escapades into ass kicking boogie woogie, swinging Rhythm & Blues, gritty Blues, instro-rock and hot Rock'n'Roll with hint of Rockabilly. "You Gotta Love 'Em" possesses a galloping train rhythm (a-la Elvis/Junior Parker's "Mystery Train") complete with piano and blues harp. "Time For Love" shows his wisdom with lines like "no Rolex, no sex". I'm having a blast with his high energy music, check out songs like "Don't Stop Now" and "The Party". Jeff Potter is dynamite turn up the volume and enjoy! - Gaby Maag-BristolNORTHEAST PERFORMER Somerville, Massachusetts, May 2002
JEFF POTTER 1-2-3-4 Go! Go! Go!
With his newest release, "1-2-3-4 Go! Go! Go!", rocker Jeff Potter is a living tribute to the original architects of rock and roll. As the genre approaches it's 50th birthday, it is fitting and gratifying to witness an artist who helps keep the legend alive; not by reaching back in a wave of nostalgia, but by living and breathing the simplicity and spirit of that musical revolution.
With just the right mix of rock and roll, rhythm & blues and rockabilly, this collection is a dream come true for roots fans. Rubbing songwriting shoulders with Little Richard, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, Potter's tunes are fun, witty, uncomplicated and poignant. The arrangements on this recording are sparse. Drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and harmonica are all the tools Potter needs to support his cool, hip voice. Fearlessly, he'll hiccup like Elvis, wail like Big Joe Turner and yodel like Buck Owens, a feat that would strip most singers to their copy-cat core but Potter isn't copying anyone. He's being himself and paying respect to his musical ancestors. The only fault here may be that there's too much information. Eighteen tracks in all make for a long album. Two shorter albums may have been more prudent, but as Potter states in the liner notes, "since this is a compilation there are a lot of songs here. If there are too many for you, listen to the first 9 now and the other 9 next year." The opening track "Just Wanna Say" is testimony to his rock and roll heart. With a cool backbeat, wailing harp and farfisa organ (all played by Potter), he creates a musical atmosphere that's magnetic. "Rhythm Riot" showcases Potter's skill as a drummer. It's a boogie with shades of "Wipe Out" and "Pipeline". His vibrato guitar is a surf adulation that rings authentic and timeless. For a good time, call "1-2-3-4 Go! Go! Go1". -Michael Khouri
DUCKTAIL Paris, France, Issue No. 4, 1997
(This article was printed in French, and run through an online translation, and here's how it ended up. The translation came out kinda crazy. )
Originating in Virginia, this americain passione of rock' roll does not record its first piece with its first group "Al Anderson & The Wildweeds", then with its second group "Clean Living". These recordings left on the label Vanguard Records New York. During the Seventies, it plays of the piano and the harmonica with its 2 groups. In 1980 it decide to hoe and sing its own songs which he A very composes in a style rockabilly. Its group Rhythm Agents east composes of Red Rogers (bass, lap steel). Rick King (guitar), Rick Brown (maracas). You can listen to his work on compilation Nervous "Is It Cool" or it has an excellent title "Pushrod". It should soon record a new title for a US compilation. Esperanto to soon be able to listen to a complete album.NOW DIG THIS England, Issue No. 240, March 2003
JEFF POTTER & THE RHYTHM AGENTS - RHYTHM RIOT, RAUCOUS CD RAUCD 119
Jeff Potter & the Rhythm Agents were first heard on a Dynamite Records single back in 1994. Since then sporadic tracks by this multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter have appeared on the compilations "Is It Cool" Nervous Records and "Fury Mental - 20 Hot Instrumentals" on Fury Records. All these tracks, together with previously unreleased material and recent cuts are included in this very welcome debut album.
Currently Jeff is playing solo shows and traveling with the New York based Lustre Kings. Last July he was with them at the huge Rockin' Fifties Fest in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He was also a member of Al Anderson's Wildweeds and has performed on stage with Eddie Angel, Bill Kirchen, NRBQ and Robert Gordon.Previous reviews have referred to Jeff as a boogie-woogie, blues and rock n roll piano player as well as a drummer able to recreate the Sandy Nelson sound. All that and some stirring guitar work gives some idea of the album. "Don't Stop Now", and archetypal boogie-woogie number guaranteed to gladden the heart, gets things off to a great start. "The Party", "I Don't Wanna Go" and "You Gotta Love 'Em" offer more of the same high tempo, highly rhythmic, boogie-based rock n roll. "Rainbow Doll" is the stroller. All good stuff, but I have to admit a sneaking preference for the laid back, slightly funky "Til the Cows Come Home" - and not just for the well-placed sound effects. Between times there are ballads and blues and some furious drumming and the two instrumentals, "Pushrod" and "Rhythm Riot". Jeff is not easily pigeonholed but a strong feeling for boogie-woogie runs through whatever he does and that is the attraction. -Chris Woodford
